John McCain, Michael Dell among big guns brought in by states to woo Tesla

Arizona, Texas and other states competing for Tesla Motors' much ballyhooed $5 billion battery factory are sending in some big guns to court Elon Musk, the CEO of the electric car manufacturer.

U.S. Sen. John McCain, Arizona State University President CEO Michael Crow and Greater Phoenix Economic Council President and CEO Barry Broome flew to Palo Alto, California right before Memorial Day to meet with Musk at Tesla’s headquarters about bringing the plant to Arizona.

Other competing states are also leveraging some high-profile players to court Musk.

Dell Inc. Founder and CEO Michael Dell is playing a key role in Texas' Tesla bid, according to an official with direct knowledge of the site-selection competition. Musk was the keynote speaker at the Dell World event in December in Austin. Michael Dell and Musk shared the stage during that event.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry is also a big part of his state’s efforts to recruit Tesla’s battery plant, dubbed the Gigafactory. Perry was recently successful in luring Toyota’s U.S. headquarters from Los Angeles to Dallas. Texas officials either declined or did not respond to request for comment.

Tesla’s home state of California is also trying to keep the battery plant. Gov. Jerry Brown and U.S. Sen. Dianne Fienstein are trying to keep Musk close to home.

Tesla has its assembly plant in Fremont and another Musk company, SpaceX, is based in Los Angeles.

Brown approved a 10-year property tax break for space exploration companies such as SpaceX in late April.